Australia to put kangaroos on the pill

Sydney - Australian scientists have come up with a contraceptive suitable for kangaroos that they claim could do away with the controversial killing of the nation's emblem, news reports said Saturday. Koala colonies are already on the pill to keep numbers down. The breakthrough comes after a stand-off between sharpshooters and animal rights activists over a plan to kill the 3,000 kangaroos that have over-run a military base in Canberra. The worst drought in a generation has raised Canberra's kangaroo population to epidemic proportions. 'We want to create a non-lethal way to control the population of one of Australia's best loved animals,' parks ranger Don Fletcher told The Sydney Morning Herald. Tests on eastern grey kangaroos have been successful and the contraceptive could be in use within the next ten years. The Wildlife Protection Society reports there are more kangaroos now than when European colonists arrived in 1788. © 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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